Monthly Archives: July 2015

“Social quota” refers to the amount of energy one affords in dealing with social interaction. To what extent is social interaction enjoyable? Actually it varies with your personality characteristics, mood and settings. For individuals with Aspergers or high functioning autism, interaction with people can drain their energy dramatically especially in topics not exactly of their genuine interests. It is, therefore, good to be aware of the variations of “social quota” of oneself before stretching too thin. For example, I was going out for a movie last night with 10 people. We had dinner and then movie. I found staying over for a chat after the movie a bit over my “social quota”. In order to maintain my emotion balance, I preferred going home to staying over after the movie. Self understanding and emotion wellbeing matters.

Brain science prevails. Here we got a movie about the functions and interaction of major emotions, long term memory, language, abstract thinking, imagination and so forth. I hope more children especially my Asperger students will increase their understanding about how their mind is affected by their emotion and memory. I like this movie because it merges science and art of story telling in such a comprehensible way. I shall recommend more friends to bring their children to watch Inside-out.

i was introduced to a mother of a son with High Functioning Autism (HFA) this afternoon. She is an executive working in a hospital. She shares stories about how she has gone through the difficult transition of her son to post-secondary education between 2011-2014 in Hong Kong. She advocates for her son through faculty, government department and Equal Opportunities Commission tackling numerous obstacles. While I admire the courage and persistence of the mother, I am very impressed by the talent and extraordinary effort of her son in transition and participation in higher education. After graduation, her son continues further education in France. I wish more people to share the advocacy journey and be inspired.

My Asperger friend who has never performed as full time carer at home before, agrees to take care of his 12 years old son during the vacation of his wife. He tries so hard to put up with the behavior of his son, including swearing at his face. He told me that his primary concern was to be in good terms with his son. I wonder if my friend understands why and how respect of parent matters.

Living with autism is incredibly challenging in a family with an Asperger father and an Asperger son. Both father and son need to establish the rapport to survive daily stress. What unique challenge would there be? And who can help them? What preparation should a professional in the field be equipped?